It is known to provide zones of rollers in a curved roller conveyor, where each zone includes a motorized roller and a plurality of idler or freely rotating rollers. The motorized roller may be operable to drive the idler rollers via a plurality of O-rings connecting each roller to an adjacent roller or rollers in the zone. Each zone may be independently operable to accumulate articles on a particular zone or zones or to generally continuously convey articles along the zones of the roller conveyor. However, such roller conveyors are not suitable for applications where belt conveyors are desired, such as for conveying small articles which may fall between the rollers, or for applications where a belt conveyor may be required or desired for other reasons. Also, due to the low friction between the rollers and the articles being conveyed thereon, such roller conveyors are typically not suitable for providing accumulation of articles along an inclined or declined section of the roller conveyor. The low friction between the rollers and the articles also may limit the speed at which the articles may be conveyed around a curve, because the articles tend to slide outwardly as they move along the curve.
Curved belt conveyors have been proposed which provide a belt conveyor through a curved section. However, such curved conveyors require tracking or guiding devices to maintain or track the belt in the proper position around the belt rollers. The tracking devices or guiding devices are positioned along the curve and either radially inwardly of the belt or radially outwardly of the curved belt, and are attached directly to the belt, such as along the edge of the belt. The tracking devices function to guide and hold the belt in the desired position around the belt rollers. This typically requires that the side channels of the conveyor sidewalls have a greater width to accommodate the additional tracking, guiding and/or take up devices, which results in the conveyor having a greater width through the curved sections. Additionally, the belt or one of the belt rollers is driven by a motor typically positioned beneath the belt and belt rollers or along the curve and radially inward of the belt or radially outward of the belt. Such roller conveyors are not suitable for providing accumulation of articles along the curve.